Pirates 1, Astros 0: That silence you heard at Minute Maid Park was the sound of the Astros bats as Pence’s hitting streak ends

One day of heavy hitting is about as useful as one day of clean living.

Without carryover, without continuity, one offensive onslaught is just a blip during a long season.

The Astros traded in Monday’s hitting shoes for a cement-shoed look Tuesday night, succumbing to the Pittsburgh Pirates 1-0 at Minute Maid Park.

A crowd of 29,712 saw Pirates righthander Jeff Karstens and a procession of relievers collaborate on a four-hitter. The Pirates were so well-armed that they ended Astros right fielder Hunter Pence’s hitting streak at 23 games — tied for fourth longest in franchise history.

“The loss is pretty painful,” said Pence, who had three fly outs and a groundout. “We’ve got to find a way to win series. I felt like I had good at-bats, but they pitched well. … The streak was fun. I hope some of the fans enjoyed it.”

The other casualty of all that Pirates pitching was Astros righthander Bud Norris, who allowed one run on six hits while striking out nine in seven innings. The Astros (25-43) had eight fewer runs and 10 fewer hits than they did the previous night in support of lefthander Wandy Rodriguez.

“It’s tough to swallow,” Norris said, “but it was great baseball played on both sides.”

Karstens wins duel

Norris has only a 4-5 record to show for a 3.48 earned run average. He has worked seven or more innings in seven of his last nine starts. In his latest outing, he shook off having learned earlier in the day of the firing of pitching coach Brad Arnsberg.

“Some of us were a little upset,” Norris said. “Arnsberg had our backs. I can’t give the guy enough praise for what he taught me. Everything I learned from him over the year and a half was over the moon.”

Karstens, a Texas Tech alum, has made considerable strides lately, too. He entered the season with a 12-27 career record and 5.07 ERA. With a 62⁄3-inning, three-hit, no-walk performance against the Astros, Karstens lowered his season ERA to 2.66.

The only time the Astros got a runner into scoring position on Karstens’ watch was in the fifth, when Brett Wallace singled with two outs and advanced on a balk. But Karstens struck out Chris Johnson on a breaking ball in the dirt.

“He definitely came at us, attacked us,” Astros shortstop Clint Barmes said. “You’re going to have these nights, but it’s pretty frustrating when Bud throws the ball as well as he did.”

Norris made precious few mistakes. Neil Walker led off the second with a single. A wild pitch put Walker in position to score on a single by Garrett Jones. That was the extent of the damage the Pirates could do against Norris.

“Bud, we’ve seen him really turn into top-of-the-rotation-type stuff,” Pence said. “He’s had it, and he’s learning how to use it.”

The best chance for a comeback by the Astros, who had only five base runners, came in the eighth. A one-out single by Johnson and a walk by pinch hitter Matt Downs brought up pinch hitter Jason Michaels. Pirates manager Clint Hurdle brought in Jose Veras, who got Michaels and Michael Bourn on fly outs.

Fun while it lasted

Pence got one last chance to extend his streak in the ninth off closer Joel Hanrahan, who has converted 18 of 18 save opportunities. A 98 mph fastball led to a groundout to second base, and Carlos Lee lined a 99 mph fastball to short for the final out. That left Pence seven games short of Willy Taveras’ franchise-record hitting streak and 33 short of the major league record Joe DiMaggio set in 1941.

“I wasn’t even halfway to The Streak, and seriously, you feel it every second of the day,” Pence said. “It was fun.”